Different
by TheShoelessOne
Summary: Allen tries to explain to MOMO the meaning of love, and the little Realian realizes that she is very different.


AN: I don't own anything Xenosaga, just so you know.  
  
"Different"  
  
"I told you, I don't need your help, Allen!" Shion cried as she sat atop her A.G.W.S. in the Elsa's hangar. Allen, who stood at the foot of the large machine, cringed at the harsh tone in his superior's voice.  
  
"Geez, Chief, I was just seeing if-"  
  
"Please, Allen, I can get more work done without you hanging around. Maybe Captain Matthews or Hammer needs you or something," she said as she began to hammer furiously at her A.G.W.S. Allen, thoroughly frightened, began to slink away. He let his head hang to his chest in the shame of yet another defeat. He stepped onto the lift to take him out of the hangar, when he came face to face with MOMO. The Realian was standing in the doorway he had been intending to mope through. He tried to force a smile.  
  
"Hey kid," he murmured. MOMO, a tray of food in her hands, smiled back at the man.  
  
"Hello, Allen," she stared at him for a moment, then added, "Are you feeling okay?" Allen sighed, holding his head in his hands and brushing past her.  
  
"No, not really," he answered as he plopped himself down on one of the seats on the perimeter of the room. Then, with a short, pathetic laugh, Allen turned back to face MOMO, "I don't guess you know anything about love, do you?" MOMO reentered the room, letting the door shut behind her. She set the tray down and then sat herself next to Allen.  
  
"No... Not really, anyway," she told him. The elder leaned back, his gaze fixing on the ceiling above them.  
  
"You probably don't wanna know in any case. Love hurts, kid, it really does."  
  
"I don't think I understand," MOMO said, puzzled. Allen pulled a face, realizing that he had to be the one to explain such a feeling to this Realian. Not really knowing where to start, he just started talking, hoping that what he was saying would eventually make sense.  
  
"Well... eh... Love is kinda like... eating... you know? When you first get it, it's all nice and warm and it makes you feel all good inside. But if you wait too long, sometimes it gets cold and hard to swallow. Sometimes it hurts, yeah, but if you keep trying to get it warm again, just maybe you could get that same warm feeling you used to have..." Allen trailed off, the started suddenly, as if remembering where he was, "Oh, kinda spaced out there, sorry," he said as he sat up, taking a small bite of the food that was sitting on the food tray beside MOMO. "Who's the food for?" He asked.  
  
"I was going to share it with Ziggy," she answered, looking down at the food. Allen nodded and downed the bite he had been nibbling on.  
  
"Yeah, he's in the maintenance room, isn't he?"  
  
"Mm-hmm," MOMO answered, her eyes unfocused and seemingly staring off into nothingness. Allen, anxious to get something to eat for himself, started backing toward the exit.  
  
"Hey, MOMO, don't take anything I said seriously, okay?"  
  
"Okay, Allen," she said, picking up the food tray. She stared at the door, then turned to him again, "Oh, I don't think Shion is mad anymore. Her thermal patterns regulated again," she added with a smiled. Allen gave her a wry smile and then, nodding, left the room.  
  
MOMO looked again to the food sitting on her tray and she remembered that the food was for Ziggy... Was it getting cold already?  
  
'If you wait too long, sometimes it gets cold and hard to swallow...'  
  
MOMO stared at the food, then up again to the door. She opened it and got on the lift to take her into the maintenance room.  
  
'Sometimes it hurts, yeah, but if you keep trying to get it warm again...'  
  
The door to the maintenance room slid open to reveal Ziggy, sitting in silence, checking the parts in his arm. He glanced up as MOMO entered the room, his cold eyes fixing on hers. She blinked a few times, then smiled, walking toward the cyborg.  
  
"I thought you might be hungry," MOMO said, presenting the tray to Ziggy. He nodded, taking the tray and offering for her to sit next to him.  
  
"That's thoughtful of you, MOMO," Ziggy told her, setting the tray down between them. He took a forkful of food and began to eat as MOMO worked on the piece that Allen had taken a bite out of. The two sat in silence, just eating. MOMO glanced up at Ziggy and, setting down her food, took an intake of breath.  
  
"Ziggy," she asked, "Do you love me?"  
  
The cyborg started, his now startled eyes turning to MOMO.  
  
"What?" He asked, as if not understanding.  
  
"Allen told me that..." she paused, as if collecting her thoughts, "He told me that you get this warm, fuzzy feeling inside you if-" She cut herself short, suddenly feeling like she had said something wrong. Ziggy set down his fork and looked almost sympathetically at the small Realian.  
  
"MOMO," he said in his resonating voice, "It doesn't matter what anyone else tells you. You eventually learn to trust your own judgments. If you trust in what you believe, then that is the truth." He placed the fork in MOMO's small hand, holding her hand shut with his. "If I do love you, it is not in the way that Allen feels for Shion, or even the way Shion feels for KOS-MOS, for that matter. If anything, I love you in the way you loved your father," his voice dropped a decibel, and he let go of her hand, "And if that is the case, then I would have to answer yes."  
  
MOMO smiled widely, her eyes tingling slightly. She knew what Allen had been talking about, now. That warm feeling spread throughout her, and she laughed.  
  
"Then that's how I feel, too," she said. She felt herself involuntarily moving to wrap her arms around Ziggy, whose shoulders were too broad for her small arms to fit around. She felt his hands rest on her back in a return embrace. She knew then that they were different, just like Ziggy had said. They were different from the others...  
  
And she didn't care. 


End file.
